


you're the missing piece I need (the song inside of me)

by Dawn_Blossom



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: (that previous tag just popped up in the search but dang if it's not true), Alternate Universe - Music, Alternate Universe - Popstar, Grima is Robin, Happy Ending, M/M, Popstar!Chrom, Reunited and It Feels So Good, fake song lyrics, i.e. Robin goes by a different name and developed a bitter attitude
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 02:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15379131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn_Blossom/pseuds/Dawn_Blossom
Summary: "What, you really think every song he sings is about me?”Grima left Chrom and the country of Ylisse behind years ago. But his past catches up to him when a music group known as "The Shepherds" rises to popularity... and Grima recognizes the voice of the lead singer.





	you're the missing piece I need (the song inside of me)

**Author's Note:**

> It's now my mission to write all the cliche AU tropes for Chrom/Grima that I can handle, because right now the only things people are writing are like... (1) canon/bad future, or (2) heroes universe (and honestly bless both of those, but...) Basically I could have a virtual MONOPOLY on the usual cliches here *laughs evilly*
> 
> Anyway, so yeah, music/pop star AU. I don't normally read this sort of thing, let alone write it... But considering that all my fic titles have been song lyrics lately, perhaps it was inevitable that I was going to go there. And speaking of song lyric titles, this one comes from [Gotta Find You by Joe Jonas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mQy5E6ugSs) (I know, but Camp Rock swept 11-year-old me off her feet. Camp Rock was also responsible for making 11-year-old me think she could be a songwriter, which, as you're about to find out, has never been and will never be true lol).
> 
> In addition to accidentally being inspired by a song from a 2008 Disney movie, this fic was _primarily_ inspired by a prompt [here](http://eff-supp.tumblr.com/post/176104507031/reunited-aus) (“this is so unfair there’s this song getting popular and the singer sounds like you and all these lyrics almost sound like they could be about me but you’re singing about lost love and you weren’t in love with me wait I’m watching the music video and crying and hey that’s definitely you wtf” au).
> 
> Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this oneshot! Thank you for stopping by Chrom/Grima hell, hope to see you again soon!

**~The Shepherds - Divine dragon~**  
**lyrics by nowisays, not pitched!!!**

**ur hair like snow**  
**ur mind devine**  
**did u know**  
**i called u mine**  
**in fantasies i told u all the time :(**

“Why are you watching lyric videos of the Shepherds songs? You hate that pop trash.”

Grima slams his hand on his desk and turns to look at his roommate as she invites herself into his room.

“Shut up, Aversa,” he growls. “The singer’s voice sounds like someone I used to know, and it’s driving me nuts!”

“Well, was the person you used to know a singer?” Aversa asks mockingly as she drapes herself over his shoulder.

Grima shoves her away.

“Yes!” he exclaims. “But there’s no fucking way this is him. No fucking way.”

He types the band’s name into YouTube. They have about five huge hits that are constantly being played on the radio, but their most recent is a song called “Fly.” Its music video is the first result.

Grima clicks on it.

**We were kids of the sky, sky, sky**  
**We were trying to fly, fly, fly**

“Gross,” Aversa says.

“You calling for me, babe?” Aversa’s boyfriend, Gangrel, pokes his head into the doorway.

“Yeah, trashlord, get in here,” Aversa says. “Grima’s getting into the Shepherds.”

“That is gross,” Gangrel says, stepping inside. “I want to watch.”

“Both of you, shut _up!_ " Grima demands.

The video pans across a wide, cloudless sky as the sounds of a keyboard play.

**I didn’t know what to do**  
**It’s not every day someone comes to you**  
**Saying they’re leaving and they don’t know where**  
**But saying they want you there**

A man’s hand stretches across the screen as though it’s reaching out for something. Slowly, the camera pans to the man’s face, and…

“Shit, it _is_ him!” Grima hisses.

His heart pounds unevenly.

“How can you even tell?” Gangrel sneers. “He looks like every generic pop star I’ve ever seen. Marth, Hector, Ike…”

“His name’s Chrom,” Grima growls. “And I just know!”

**I had everything there**  
**I said we could share**  
**And I couldn’t see why**  
**You wouldn’t reply**

“Wait a minute…” Aversa says. “Isn’t Chrom that guy you’re all hung up on…?”

“I punched him in the face one day and then never spoke to him again,” Grima says. “I wouldn’t call that being ‘hung up’ on him.”

“Hey, babe, yeah,” Gangrel says. “You said he wouldn’t date you because he’s all hung up on some guy named Chrom.” He laughs. “Man, I’ve got to send that guy a thank you card! You’d never have gone for me if ol’ fancy dick over there wanted you.”

“You’re misinterpreting the situation,” Grima protests weakly. “I… hate him.”

Chrom had been everything to him once. They met in high school and formed a shitty band together. It was Grima’s only refuge when things with his father spiralled out of control (which happened on at least a weekly basis). _Chrom_ was his only refuge. He thought they would do anything for each other.

But Grima just couldn’t take it staying in that fucking town, going to that fucking school, living with that fucking father of his. It was so easy to leave; he didn’t have anything holding him down. The only thing he cared about was Chrom.

But did Chrom agree to run away with him? No. Did he at least wish Grima well on his solitary travels? No. No, Chrom threatened to call the fucking _police_ on him.

So Grima punched him in the face and got the hell out of there while he was still unconscious.

**You should have punched me out**  
**Before I had the chance to run my mouth**  
**You should have dragged me off with you**  
**Before I had the chance to lose you**

“Uh… Grima?” Aversa says hesitantly. “Did he just say something about getting punched out?”

“Maybe his stupid face is just that punchable,” Grima mutters.

But he knows what she means.

Now that he’s thinking about it, the lyrics to this song are very… familiar.

**”Don’t fly away, I need you here.”**  
**”I’ll keep you safe so please don’t fear.”**  
**I never would have picked up the phone**  
**If I knew I’d wake up alone**

Chrom wouldn’t, though. Surely. The idiot probably isn’t even writing his own lyrics. He always used to rely on Grima for that...

**Well I didn’t deserve the blame**  
**But you didn’t deserve the pain**  
**And if I could go back to the day**  
**I’d change what I’d say**  
**Robin, I’d fly away**

“What?” Grima exclaims. “What did he just say?”

There is no way Chrom just dropped his name (well, his previous name) in the smash hit of his new album.

“Something about a robin, I think?” Gangrel says. “This guy slurs his words so bad, I can’t even hear....”

“Robin?” Aversa repeats. “Um, isn’t that your name on the lease? Wait a minute…”

**We were kids of the sky, sky, sky**  
**We were trying to fly, fly, fly**  
**But now that I’m high, it’s not worth the view**  
**Not without you**

Robin stares at his computer screen as the song fades away. In the video, Chrom falls to the ground, covering his chest with his hands as he closes his eyes.

It’s such a… _him_ thing to do.

Grima can’t stop staring at the damn screen.

“Divine Dragon is about a man with white hair…,” Aversa says. “And there’s a line in that song ‘Truth’ about a tattoo on a guy’s hand…”

Grima glances at his right hand. He has gotten back in high school… It wasn’t like his father cared. And Chrom had gotten one with him, though he got it on his shoulder and hid it from his family.

Grima frowns, playing the video again from the 1:00 mark. Chrom only has one sleeve on in this video…. There’s a close-up of his clearly visible tattoo.

Grima supposes that’s cool for pop stars.

“I hear what you’re saying, Aversa,” he says. “But that’s just too fucking much. What, you really think every song he sings is about me?”

“Man, I think every song he sings is _for_ you,” Gangrel says. He’s got his phone out now, and every now and then he swipes on it. “Oh my god... ‘you believe in fate and I believe in hope, can we hope for a better fate,’ ‘I’m dead but your touch can raise me’? This stuff is absolute shit.”

“Let me see,” Grima says, grabbing the phone out of Gangrel’s hand.

**Risen King**  
**The Shepherds**

**[Chorus]**  
**We’ve gone through enough strife**  
**And I don’t want to wait for a better life**  
**Find me before the memory goes hazy**  
**I’m dead, but your touch can raise me**

Grima shoves the phone back to Gangrel.

“Damn it…” he mutters. These lyrics are making it incredibly hard to forget the past he left behind. “If he thinks I’m just going to jump on a plane and fly back to him in Ylisse, he’s…”

He grits his teeth. Chrom is enough of a moron to think that it might happen that way.

Chrom has always believed in hope. And, yes, Grima believes in fate… He had no choice but to get the hell out of his old town. If it was fate for him and Chrom to be together, Chrom would have come with him.

And yet… Just what _are_ the chances that Chrom would become a pop star so famous that even Grima has to listen his songs?

Five minutes later, Grima is googling concert dates. Turns out the Shepherds are playing in Ylisstol in a month.

“Holy shit, we can’t afford those prices,” Gangrel says.

“We don’t have to see the show. We’ll ambush him in his hotel or something,” Grima says. “Wait… WE?”

“Hold on, just hear my out,” Gangrel continues. “This thing’s in Ylisstol, yeah? So, I know a guy… Well, actually, I know a guy who knows a guy, but the guy I know owes me big time for getting him out of jail, and—”

Aversa smacks her boyfriend on the arm.

“Get to the point already,” she says.

“The POINT,” Gangrel says pointedly, “is that there’s a guy in Ylisstol who can get us in. Won’t cost us a dime.”

“Hold on,” Grima says. “Why do you keep saying ’we’ and ‘us’? This is a matter of personal business.”

“But Grima, darling,” Aversa says, draping her arms over his shoulders. “We’d be so bored all alone in this apartment… We might have to get... creative....”

Grima slips out of her grip, turning to glare at her and Gangrel both. It’s a credible threat. Last time they got “creative,” there were charges of public indecency involved.

“You two disgust me,” he growls. And then he sighs. “But damn it, just get us in, Gangrel. I’ll consider it recompense for you freeloading off me all year.”

In the end, it’s a completely ridiculous plan. Absolutely mad.

Perhaps this is why Gangrel refers to himself as the “Mad King” of Plegia.

In any case, it _works._ Some ginger-haired techie sneaks him, Gangrel, and Aversa into Ylisse’s biggest end-of-summer party.

“This is fucking sick,” Gangrel whispers. “Babe, look at this girl’s boobs. They’re bigger than yours!”

“I’he purple-haired one. I see her,” Aversa says, flipping her hair back. “She’s so out of your league, babe. But maybe not out of mine.”

“Now, wait a damn minute—” Gangrel says. The two of them begin pushing their way through the crowd.

“I should have figured,” Grima says, sighing. “Of course they came for the debauchery.”

“And you didn’t?” the techie asks.

“No,” Grima growls. “I came to see someone. Now can you get me to where the Shepherds are, or am I going to have to find a different blackmail victim to get me there?”

“Hey, you’d better be careful,” the techie says. “The name’s Gaius, and I wasn’t blackmailed. I’m actually kind of a big deal here in Ylisstol.”

“Mm-hmm,” Grima says. “And I literally could not care less. I’m only here for the Shepherds.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re some kind of rabid megafan, whatever,” Gaius says. “Don’t get your hopes up too high, though. You might get a hearty handshake, but the keyboardist and the drummer are in a monogamous relationship. And the lead singer, well… If you didn’t figure it out from his songs, he’s a little bit stuck on somebody.”

“Yeah?” Grima’s heart pounds a little harder. Even after listening to all of the Shepherds’ songs on repeat for the past month, it’s still incredible to think that Chrom would miss him _that_ much. But to hear from someone else that Chrom can’t move on… to picture Chrom all alone, crying out for only him...to think that Chrom could have spent all these years _just as miserable as him…_

A thrill of anticipation shoots down his spine.

“Yeah, some white-haired god or something,” Gaius says dismissively. Suddenly, he pauses. “Wait a minute… You’re white-haired and handsome… and suspiciously well put together for someone who had to sneak in here…”

Grima’s lips slowly twist into a smirk.

“Wait, you’re really him?” Gaius exclaims. “Holy shit, I’m about to be a hero!” He grabs Robin’s arm. “Come on, Eros, deliver us from Chrom’s pining.”

“Eros? What the—” Grima doesn’t have time to ask what the hell that’s supposed to mean, because in the next instant, he and Gaius are running backstage.

“Hey, somebody get me Chrom,” Gaius yells. “Right now, seriously!”

“What?” a brown-haired woman snaps. “He has one minute to get on stage! Can it wait?”

“No, Panne, he’s gonna flip!” Gaius says. “He needs to see this now!”

“What’s the problem? Is the equipment malfunctioning?” a familiar voice says.

Chrom steps out from around a corner.

Grima’s breath hitches. He looks just the same as he always has (well, he would never have been caught dead wearing a ripped sleeve and showing off a tattoo back in high school… but otherwise Grima could be looking at a yearbook photo).

“Blue, look, I brought you a present,” Gaius says, yanking Grima closer.

Grima stumbles forward as Chrom’s eyes widen.

“Robin?” Chrom breathes.

In a flash, Grima is enveloped by muscular arms.

“Robin!” Chrom exclaims. “You came! You’re here! You heard me!”

“The whole world heard you,” Grima mutters. “And… don’t call me by that name anymore.”

“W-What?” Chrom’s grip loosens, though he doesn’t remove his arms from Grima’s back.

“I didn’t want to be the poor son of a drunkard anymore,” Grima says quietly. “Now I’m just a regular poor bastard. The name’s Grima.”

“Grima…” Chrom tests the name on his tongue. His grip grows firm again. “I just wanted to find you…”

“What the hell?” Panne asks. “Chrom, we don’t have time for this. You have to get out there now!”

“Let Walhart go on,” Chrom says. “Tell everyone we can’t do this tonight. I can’t… leave Grima…”

“Like hell that’s happening!” Panne says. “This man will be here after you finish singing!”

“Chrom, WHAT are you DOING?” Lissa asks, running in. “Me and Frederick have been waiting for—”

She gasps as she lays her eyes on Grima.

“No WAY!” she exclaims. “Robin’s back?”

“It’s… Grima now,” Grima says, pulling himself out of Chrom’s embrace. “And you… joined Chrom’s band?”

“Uh-huh,” Lissa nods cheerfully. “Oh my god, we have so much to catch up on!”

“Can it be AFTER you perform?” Panne asks.

Chrom shakes his head.

“I don’t want—”

“Chrom,” Lissa interrupts. “Come on, he’s gonna be here when you get back. He came all this way for you! He came all this way to hear you SING! So you have to go on!”

Grima opens his mouth. Technically, he did not actually come to hear any kind of singing. His only motive was to see Chrom.

But…

“Sing for me,” he says, his voice catching. “All your songs are for me, right? I want you to show me… Show me what I came back for…”

“Grima…” Chrom’s stare at him with wide, teary eyes. After a moment, he nods.

“Don’t go anywhere,” he demands, his eyes narrowing with determination. “I’m going to tell you what I should have all those years ago.”

Grima’s already racing heart skips a beat.

“All right, let’s go,” Chrom says, pushing Lissa out onto the stage.

“Thank god,” Panne says, brushing a hand through her hair. “I cannot even imagine the absolute hell that would break loose if anything strayed from the program—”

“All right, everybody!” Chrom shouts to the audience. “I hope you don’t mind if I stray from the program a bit!”

Panne buries her face in her hands.

“See, there’s this song I’ve been waiting to sing for a long time,” Chrom says. “I don’t think I was supposed to know about it, actually. And it was never the right time… Until now!”

The audience murmurs in interest.

Chrom raises his guitar. Robin is surprised that he recognizes it. His sister Emmeryn had bought it for him after he and Robin had started their band.

“The Falchion hasn’t broken yet?” he asks Panne.

She glances at him.

“No,” she says. “He takes perfect care of it.”

Of course he does...

“This one’s called ‘Invisible Ties,’” Chrom says.

Grima freezes. That title… belongs to him.

“Like all my songs, it’s dedicated to one man,” Chrom continues. “And this one… was written by that man himself.”

“But… how?” Grima whispers He wrote the song back in high school. He wrote it long before he left Ylisse. He never showed it to Chrom, because it was too much of an admission… He’ thought he had thrown it in the trash.

Chrom’s begins to strum the first notes.

**It started with a flash fire**  
**Then the thunder rolled and lightning struck**  
**The wind blew me away**  
**But I was never lost**

Only the back of Chrom’s body from this position. Grima wonders what expression he’s wearing.

**There are invisible ties**  
**They bind us all**  
**And if I must be bound**  
**I thank god it’s to you**

Chrom stands suddenly, walking to the center of the stage. He continues to play, but his voice falls away.

Wait a minute.

Grima had written the song as a duet.

“Is he not going to sing the other part?” Grima hisses, glaring at Gaius and Panne.

“What other part?” Panne asks.

“Uh…” Gaius says. “See, the thing is… We don’t know this song...”

“Well, _I_ know this song, and he’s screwing it up,” Grima says. “Give me a microphone.”

“Excuse me?” Panne exclaims. “You know what those hell-spawn fans are going to do if you interrupt?”

“That’s not my problem,” Grima snaps. “My problem is that he’s singing the song wrong. Give me a microphone or I’ll just go without one! At least this way it will look planned!”

“Ah, just do it, Whiskers,” Gaius says. “This is the GUY, you know? C’mon, it’ll make Blue happy.”

“I hate working with pop stars…” Panne mutters as she finally hands Grima a spare microphone.

** If I must be bound, I thank god it’s to you **

As Grima walks onto the stage, Chrom whirls around to face him. The joy that lights up his face awakens the sweetest ache in Grima’s heart.

How long has it been since they last sang together?

**Even if the world fell, we’d fight**  
**You’d be the sword at my side**

Chrom comes closer. Grima finds himself stepping forward, too, as if drawn together by, well… invisible ties.

** I’d be the wind at your back **  
** And we could go anywhere **

Chrom reaches out for him. Grima could not pull away if he wanted to. The murmurs of the audience around them fade away in the heat of the moment.

**Our souls know the way home**

Grima closes his eyes.

** We’re halves of a whole **

Perhaps he was always meant to find a way back to Chrom after all.

_**There are invisible ties**_  
_**They bind us all**_  
_**And if I must be bound**_  
_**I thank god it’s to you**_

As their combined voices fall away, the press of Chrom’s lips against his is not entirely unexpected.

Later, he will have to deal with all the problems of kissing a pop star in front of a live audience.

But for now, he hears only the whispers of his soul proclaiming that he is home.


End file.
